THE MOSCOW ZOO BECAME THE LAUREATE OF THE INTERNATIONAL PANDA AWARD THREE TIMES

14.01.2020

On January 3, the Giant Panda Global Awards took place in Belgium. This prize is awarded annually to leading zoos, environmental organizations and specialists who contribute to the conservation, protection and research of giant pandas. The winners are selected during an open online vote, which is attended by fans of bamboo bears from all over the world. This year, the Moscow zoo received awards in three categories at once: it took gold in the ‘Panda event of the year’ category, silver in the ‘Panda person of the year category’ and bronze in the ‘Favorite panda outside China’ category.

In total, the award includes 15 nominations, each of which is contested by 5 to 10 candidates from China, the United States and Europe. The "Panda moment of the year" was unanimously recognized as the opening of the enclosure complex "Fauna of China" at the Moscow zoo. The grand opening with the participation of top officials of Russia and China took place in June last year, and its main characters were the bamboo bears DinDin and Zhui. The return of giant pandas to the zoo's exposition became possible thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the comprehensive support of the Moscow Government.

The honorary second place in the category "Human panda personality of the year" went to the General Director of the zoo Svetlana Akulova.

The third place in the category "Favorite panda outside of China" went to the two-year-old female DinDin. In a tense struggle, the panda lost to its charming relatives from Madrid and Schoenbrunn.

Three crystal figurines will be delivered to the Moscow zoo in the near future.